Not A Monster
by The Genius Mage
Summary: Giftfic, Vanitas-related BBS spoilers, VanitasxAqua. She didn't want to admit it, didn't want to try and see it any other way. If she saw him as someone as monstrous as any Unversed, then she didn't have to wonder what exactly motivated the enigmatic boy.
1. Not A Monster

_~*Not A Monster*~_

_She refused to think this might all be a misunderstanding—that _he_ might be misunderstood._

* * *

_Musical Inspiration: Aqua's Theme_

* * *

**A q u a** was alone. In almost every sense of the word.

She drew her legs up to her chest and stared at the fire, crackling and popping as it snapped against its invisible tether. The magic flames were bewitched to stay a foot off the ground and to float indefinitely, until she or some other magic-user ended its "life".

Idly, the girl extended a hand and let its heat tickle her skin. She supposed she would leave the Dwarf Woodlands in the morning. No need to rush off now, in the middle of the night. If she was tired later on, it could effectively cost her the ultimate price: her life.

She wasn't hungry. The dwarves had given her more than enough to eat earlier as they celebrated the proposal of the Prince to Snow White. Recalling the tender kiss of true love that had awakened the slumbering Princess, Aqua smiled to herself.

She had never been the romantic type, but still, even Terra would have felt the urge to say _aw._

_Now I'm just imagining things. _

The meadow she was in, dappled as it were with tiny flowers of a half dozen colors, seemed to be almost cut off from the rest of the world. The wind rustled the branches on the trees, sending a few leaves her way, betraying the direction of the breeze.

And something else, too, that Aqua wouldn't have heard if the gentle gale hadn't blown it straight towards her.

A faint scuffle. The sound of someone approaching.

Or some_thing_.

She stiffened, tilting her head and straining her senses to locate the disturbance. The Dwarf Woodlands were full of tiny animals—the creatures practically _worshipped_ Snow White after all—it could just be a deer or fox or rabbit.

Moon and star light gleamed off of a dark surface, momentarily blinding her.

Aqua hissed and sprang to her feet, summoning her Keyblade in a heartbeat. She flicked her fingers, causing the embers to flare brightly, illuminating everything for a good ten feet around with a tawny radiance.

Nothing was in front of her but trees and bushes, with one startled owl soaring into the sky silently.

Instinct seized her muscles, and Aqua cartwheeled to the side an instant before tendrils of Darkness closed around her form. The girl nimbly twisted, calling the fire to her and lighting another that split into six small globes.

Unable to duck back into the shadows, her attacker straightened up, clenching his fists and glowering at her through his glossy, tinted helmet. She couldn't see his sneer, but she could sure sense it.

"Pity," the masked youth commented airily, as casual as you please. It was almost as if he were discussing a bit of bad luck involving the weather.

Aqua narrowed her eyes and spat, "What do you want, Vanitas?" She didn't really intend to hear him out, but she was trying to assess their surroundings for the best areas to fight without tripping over anything. Luckily, the plain was relatively rock free.

The muscles underneath his black-and-red body suit coiled and shifted noticeably below the organic-looking material, uncomfortably close to the movement of writhing snakes as he stepped closer. He laughed, and the sound sent chills racing up and down her spine.

"What do I want? What do _you_ want?" Vanitas challenged, clenching one fist tightly at his side.

She came the closest to snarling that she ever had at that moment, his tone was so _patronizing_ after all. Usually it was Terra that growled when he was cross. "I want to know why you're here." Aqua tensed, preparing for an attack.

He hadn't even summoned his weapon. Instead, Vanitas dipped his head against his chest, staring at the ground, looking like some demonic bird brooding over his problems. After a handful of edgy seconds, he stated mildly, "Fair enough. I want you to _understand_."

"_What?"_ Aqua snapped. "_What_ do you want me to understand?"

"That you know less than you think."

"Straighten your tongue for once and speak to me without twisting your words." The Keyblade Master's tone was scathing, and if words were weapons, it would have removed the flesh from a bull in an instant.

Starlight glittered against Vanitas's shielded face, the only part of him that seemed affected by the heavenly light overhead. In that hidden meadow, devoid of any inhabitants besides the two Keybearers, the tension was equivalent to a thunder storm.

"I'm being _very _straightforward," remarked the black-clad apprentice. "Whether or not you understand is the question."

"Get _out_," Aqua warned, brandishing her Keyblade. She wasn't afraid of this shadowy enigma that stalked her dreams, her thoughts. She wasn't afraid of him at all. Still, that didn't mean she wanted to fight him, she'd rather he just _leave._

Vanitas pretended to study his fingernails. "Well, it seems to me that you don't." He chuckled, obviously hearing the angry growl threatening to escape past her clenched teeth. "May I ask you something?"

Now this_ was_ startling. Aqua's body relaxed temporarily as her mind processed two things in her shock. One, Vanitas of all people had said _"May I"_, and two, he wanted to _ask _her something?

Hesitantly, she nodded.

With an almost visible smirk, Vanitas queried nonchalantly, "What do you think of me?"

Well, she wanted him to be straightforward. That was a rather simple question.

"You're volatile, a pragmatist in everything but your words. Deadly." Aqua replied once she had collected her thoughts.

"Combat skills and being 'pragmatist', as you say, does not a bad person make." Vanitas's voice sounded infuriatingly smug.

"You're _evil_," she countered. "In Radiant Garden, I—"

"Haven't you been here already?" Vanitas interrupted, gazing around at the Dwarf Woodlands.

Aqua clenched her teeth and huffed, barely controlling her temper. Yes, she had. She had come back to pick up something—and to check on Snow White, in case the Unversed returned. She had been a little worried about the gullible Princess. Nice as she was, the young woman was easy to fool.

"You didn't even _try_ to deny it. I answered your question, now leave." Last warning. She'd spring on him if he even _looked_ at her wrong now.

Vanitas sighed dramatically. "Come now, I've got something to add."

She glared, but he was undeterred.

"What is your definition of 'evil'?"

Blinking, Aqua tried to get her words out. "I…People that abuse their powers to hurt others, to take what isn't theirs." She added pointedly, "Darkness users, I've noticed, are likely to do this."

"Oh, I'm wounded now," Vanitas moaned theatrically. He pretended that his knees buckled from under him, straightening at the last moment before hitting the ground.

Despite herself, Aqua felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Remembering that this was _Vanitas_ playing coy—attempting to psyche her out, no doubt—and succeeding, she said impatiently, "Will you just _go_?"

"Not until I change your mind. You still don't _understand_." He became serious then, crossing his arms. "What, will you _force_ me?"

"I will if you don't leave in ten seconds," Aqua threatened. She did _not_ want to reconsider her opinion on Vanitas. He was evil, simple as that. Master Eraqus always had a distrust of the Darkness, and it was a concept well rooted in her mind.

"Ten…nine…" Vanitas studied a nonexistent watch on his wrist.

"You're pushing your luck!"

"Six…five…"

"I'm warning you!"

A pause.

"Two…one…"

Aqua pounced, swinging her Keyblade deftly, aiming to injure but not to kill. Vanitas was fast, retreating speedily, summoning his own wicked weapon to counter hers. She chased him across the clearing, _Rain Fall's_ teeth colliding with Vanitas's in a shower of orange sparks. Her flaming globes circled them so they both wouldn't blunder like idiots into the shadowy trees.

With their luck, they'd probably trip and fall into a mound of brambles.

"Will you _listen_?" Vanitas hissed, sounding irritated. "I just want to talk, nothing more."

"I _don't_, so leave!"

"No. Not until you hear me out, my stubborn little warrior."

She blinked in shock for a second, and then fury surged through her. It was only through sheer willpower that Aqua didn't lose control and end up setting the forest ablaze. "_Your_ little warrior?"

Increasing her attack speed and strength, the Keyblade Master battered his defenses viciously, azure eyes glinting like blue hellfire. Vanitas's voice became dangerously quiet as he once again blocked one of her arcing blows, though he was only just in time.

"Will. You. _Stop_? Now look which one of us is violent."

_At least he's talking straight!_

Aqua back-flipped, landing neatly on her feet a few Keyblade-lengths away from her would-be adversary. She scowled at him. "Okay. _Leave_. I don't want anything to do with you."

Vanitas dismissed his weapon, breathing hard, clenching and unclenching his fists. "You're as stubborn as Terra," he said bitingly.

"_What about Terra_?" Every single word he spoke was _infuriating_.

"And as lost as Ventus," the masked youth continued. He was silent as she trembled with rage at his comments.

"_You're _stubborn too, apparently."

The firelight cast odd, flickering forms across Vanitas's body, emphasizing some spots and shrouding others in mystery. No matter how she spun her arcane spheres, his helmet succeeded in hiding his face.

Dipping his head, Vanitas shrugged. "True," he conceded. "What if I don't leave? Will you attack me for simply standing here and talking?"

_You being you is enough for me to—_an obvious idea occurred to the Keybearer at that instant.

"I'll leave," Aqua declared. "And if you ever give me reason to attack you again, I'll—"

Vanitas twitched. That was the only warning she got, and she was too late to run or even evade. Ven might have been able to avoid them when they came, but Aqua was too worn out from the day's events to flee quickly enough.

A horde of Unversed dropped out of heaving black-red portals on two sides of her, and more swarmed out from behind Vanitas. They were all Floods, twitchy, malformed, blue creatures with abrupt, jerky movements and glowing red eyes. They latched on to her and forced her to her knees, and no matter how hard she struggled, they didn't move more than their normal jolting allowed.

Aqua's flame spheres went out as Vanitas doused them with Darkness that he flicked from his fingers. The night rushed back in to claim what was rightfully its, and the girl's eyes slowly began to adjust to the gloom as she squinted past the Unversed and their awful scarlet eyes, trying to pick out the black-clad apprentice's shape in the oppressive oblivion that was now present.

The moon once again aided her efforts, sparkling off of Vanitas's domed mask.

She tensed, waiting for him to call his weapon. She'd release what little magic and power that she had into a surprise attack to throw off his misshapen minions.

One of them scratched her cheek in its…eagerness? It left a long, thin scratch on her face that began to bleed, and Aqua involuntarily flinched.

Vanitas lashed out, quick as lightning, knocking the Flood on the side of its head and sending it to the ground. She shifted, but the remaining Unversed were still clinging to her, a heavy and very much unwelcome blanket.

"I _said _don't harm her," Vanitas snarled. "Do you want me to end your pitiful existence?"

_He…_said_ don't harm her?_

She hadn't heard him say anything.

The Flood struggled to its wiry feet as it recovered from its master's blow, and Vanitas kicked it contemptuously aside, flinging it into the trees. Aqua heard the familiar hiss as its form broke apart, vanishing.

For some reason, horror washed over her as she realized Vanitas had just killed one of his own minions.

_Is there no end to his cruelty?_

Noticing her icy stare, Vanitas sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you, else I would have _them_," he gestured to the Unversed. "Tear you apart. Or attempt to. The Floods aren't enough to do in a Keyblade Master."

"You would know," Aqua growled in lack of a better response.

"I would."

One of the Unversed trembled visibly and poked one of its sharp antennae against her shoulder. It comically froze in fear, but Vanitas either didn't notice—(unlikely)—or ignored it, as the action didn't leave a mark on her skin.

"Now, Aqua…What can I do to get you to trust me?" Vanitas suddenly put one of his hands up. "Wait, what can I do for you to _talk_ to me?"

"Three things," Aqua sighed, cursing her luck to be in her current position. She wasn't well-rested enough to fight the Floods_ and_ Vanitas. Vanitas was a tiring handful on a _good_ day, when she had plenty of energy and healing items. She didn't have a prayer of reaching her Ethers or Potions without one of the Unversed intercepting her. If she could even get into her bag.

"Which would be…?" Vanitas inquired.

"Don't talk in riddles to me."

"Go on."

"Remove your helmet."

Vanitas visibly tensed at that, and then, reluctantly, he nodded. "And?"

"_Get your monsters off of me_."

"Of course," he soothed in a reassuring tone. "But you have to give me your word you won't run off."

_I won't run, but one wrong move and you're—_"You have my word as a Keyblade Master that I will hear you out."

Satisfied, Vanitas snapped his fingers sharply. The Floods drew away without question, and if they had tails, Aqua imagined that they'd be between their legs. The blue creatures zipped off, flattening themselves to the ground and disappearing, insubstantial as smoke. Here one moment, gone the next.

Aqua rose, rubbing her cheek and grimacing as she felt the blood. She dragged out some of her healing magic and cast a quick Cure spell without taking her eyes from her impromptu companion. She was about to light another fire, but Vanitas beat her to it.

The large cluster of flames burned brightly over their heads, interlaced with tendrils of Darkness that occasionally dampened the light.

They stared at one another, two Keyblade-lengths apart, the black apprentice and Eraqus's star student.

Sensing he was about to speak, Aqua reminded him sharply to remove his helmet.

"Must I?"

"Knowing your face would be the first step on the way to me even _listening_ to anything you have to say." Aqua's normal politeness didn't apply to the likes of Vanitas.

Heaving another sigh, he slowly reached up and slipped off his mask. She didn't know what to expect next.

It certainly wasn't this.

Vanitas had a pale, astonishingly young face. He couldn't be much older than her, if not the same age. His features were surrounded on all sides by an untamed mane of black spikes, golden eyes glowing in the dreary light, unfamiliar and alien.

Aqua gasped, then relaxed, trying to assess him. "Okay…What do you want, besides my 'understanding'?"

"Can't you _try_ to see things my way?"

"Speak straight, I said."

"I _am_," Vanitas seethed.

"You act like I should be sympathetic for you and your monsters."

"It's not about them," his reply was dagger-edged.

She scoffed quietly. "What am I _trying _to understand?"

Vanitas was silent, his facial expression unreadable. She found it hard not to look away from his eyes now that she could see them, not once moving her own gaze from his, even when he wasn't focused on her.

At long last, he spoke again. Slowly. "I want you to understand that I am not a monster."

Stunned yet again, Aqua clenched her hand into a fist over her heart. "What…?"

"How is that hard to understand?" Vanitas speared her with his steady stare, and his eyes seemed to sear into her mind. Even when she blinked, the darkness bore his yellow mark.

"You don't deserve my sympathy."

"Don't I?" Vanitas dared. He approached her until a foot of space separated them. "I'm pure Darkness. Does that mean I'm pure evil? I was _raised_ this way. I'm an apprentice as much as Terra or Ventus."

Aqua's mouth dried, and she found herself unable to answer.

"What if I had been raised differently? What if this was Ventus standing here with creatures even _he_ doesn't exactly know why he can summon trying to…get you…to understand…what then?" Vanitas just looked at her, and she shook her head from side to side in denial.

"You're trying to trick me," she mumbled.

It was close to working. She _didn't_ want to feel sympathetic for the masked leader of the Unversed. She _didn't_ want to listen to him. He was proud and conceited and cunning. It was a trap, a deception.

Her heart said otherwise, the foolish thing.

"Am I? Everything I'm doing…is so I can be whole again. That's the truth without a twist to it." Vanitas, without removing his eyes from hers, placed his hand on her shoulder. His touch was warm against her skin, surprisingly so.

Aqua found herself saying, "I believe you. But I still don't trust you."

"I haven't given you any reason to."

She placed her hand over his, and she ignored how he blinked, stunned. She wasn't sure why she was doing this either. "No, you haven't. It's what you're going to do _after_ that worries me, that makes me unhappy and anxious for everyone that I care for."

Silence.

"What are you doing _after_?" Aqua insisted.

"Whatever the Master says to do."

"Don't you have your own life? What do _you_ want to do?" She grudgingly found herself feeling _sympathetic _after all. Maybe, if he had been raised differently, this not-so monstrous monster could be as humane as Terra and Ventus…and her.

He smiled then, revealing prominent canines. It was the first smile she had ever seen from him, naturally, since his helmet usually covered his face.

"You know what? I don't know."

Aqua's heart reacted to their proximity, slamming against her ribcage. But the side of her that wasn't totally absorbed by his golden gaze whispered loudly.

_Liar._

"Then come with me," she said suddenly.

Vanitas inclined his head to the side in a questioning manner.

"We can take you to Master Eraqus. Tell him what's going on, about your problems. You're the _apprentice_ of your Master, not his slave. We can get you out of your situation, if you want."

"'We'?" He repeated, skeptical now.

"Terra and Ven! You don't have to…do what you're doing. The first step would be to stop using your Unversed to…" Aqua gestured vaguely around the Dwarf Woodlands, concentrating on the direction of the dwarves' cottage in the woods to emphasize her point.

His eyes became shadowy. "But they're my…"

_My what?_ Aqua found herself wondering. _What are they besides monsters? If he cared for them, then he wouldn't have killed that Flood, or send those others after us. _The idea of him "caring" for the beasts was ludicrous.

Vanitas shook his head. Aqua touched her fingertips to his face, and he ceased all movement at that second. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and returned his gaze fiercely, summoning all of her various emotions for the black-clad apprentice and layering them on top of her next word.

"Please?"

He flinched as if she had hit him, and Aqua tightened her hold on his hand, the one still lightly clutching her shoulder in an oddly gentle manner. Not at all like his monsters.

"_I want you to understand that I am not a monster."_

His eyes slipped closed, and for a moment he leaned into her touch, and Aqua was struck dumb by the feeling of…_rightness_, for lack of a better word, that pervaded her entire being. Then he pulled away, and she let him, uncomfortable with the warring sensations that jarred her mind and heart.

"I can't. I have to, this is the only way. No one else will understand, least of all _Eraqus_."

Aqua bristled at how he said her Master's name, like some kind of swear word, but she let it pass unchallenged. "That's not true. Someone else does understand. I think I do."

"Then _you_ come with _me_," Vanitas proposed, twirling his helmet in his hands.

She followed its swift revolutions with an absent interest. "I can't, not if…you and your Master are intent on harming my friends."

Vanitas sighed, and placed his helmet back on. Aqua managed to catch his gaze before the mask once more hid his face from view. "Then I'm glad you at least _understand_. Or you _think _you do."

"You're leaving." It wasn't a question.

"I have to. He's calling."

Aqua knew he meant his mysterious master. She could ask who his master was, but he wasn't going to answer, most likely. "If you threaten my friends, for whatever reason, I _will_ fight you," she reminded him, surprised by how hurt she was that he might…_betray_ her after such a shocking discussion between them.

Vanitas stared at her, and then he nodded wordlessly.

Aqua didn't say good bye, and neither did he.

Aqua didn't light a fire, because his Dark flame didn't go out.

Aqua didn't go to sleep right away, and he didn't start his new mission immediately.

Aqua didn't pretend to care for him, and neither did he for her.

Who was pretending?

* * *

_**This story is dedicated to WasabiWhipCream! I hope you enjoyed it! You requested a VanitasxAqua one-shot, and as much as I love those two, it's difficult to write in-universe. It was a welcome challenge though! I was going to add a kiss scene but I felt it seemed sort of…forced when I tried. Maybe the length makes up for it? It's hard to keep these two in-character due to the sheer nature of the pairing.**_

_**If not, I owe you another one-shot of your choice.**_

_**Reviews are welcome and appreciated! **_

**_Edit: Darn FF and it's meddling with my format..._**


	2. Without A Doubt

_~*Without A Doubt*~_

_She could feel however she liked, but there was no doubt now about him…_

* * *

Aqua hissed as she was slammed against the side of the cliff, one hand clenching her Keyblade, _Destiny's Place_, the other summoning a globe of pure Light. The Unversed converged upon her, a motley collection of Floods and other weak monsters, scratching and jabbing and even biting, in one case.

As she destroyed a cluster of them with a well aimed shot, the female Keybearer couldn't suppress a feeling of sorrow and bitter disappointment, sharp on her tongue.

_These are _his_._

The Unversed were Vanitas's creations after all. His pets, to do with as he pleased. For some odd reason, every time she wiped out one, she wondered if he could feel them die.

One of the Unversed inched closer, and she whirled around, elegantly, plunging her weapon into its chest and eliminating it. Smoothly, without breaking stride, she turned and swept her Keyblade in a wide arc, getting rid of the rest. The murky sky of the Keyblade Graveyard overhead offered no comforting rays of sunlight, and an oppressive silence rushed back in once she was alone.

Breathing hard, she straightened and gazed around for any more enemies. A slow clap sounded from behind her.

"You haven't lost your skill, I see." A voice noted with no little satisfaction.

Aqua's blood ran hot, then cold, as she recognized the speaker. She whipped around to face him, spitting his name out like a curse word. "Vanitas!"

The masked youth seemed to fit into the dreary brown and grays of the desert-like environment and the handful of rugged mountains. His head was inclined in a respectful matter, but his Keyblade was tightly gripped in one hand. The hot, still air rippled around him, giving the black-and-red clad apprentice the appearance of being underwater.

"Now, now, don't be so hostile. I was merely congratulating you on ruthlessly annihilating another of my minions." Vanitas strode towards her, and she sensed his invisible smirk behind his domed helmet.

Narrowing her eyes until her world consisted of only him, Aqua retorted angrily, "Don't try and deceive me with your words." That night in the Dwarf Woodlands hung heavy in her mind, as it always did when she encountered him.

She found herself thinking that every word had been a lie. That he _was_ a monster, and that was just one of his dozens of tricks designed to fool a fool…

Vanitas's eye roll was almost seeable. "I just want to talk."

"About what?" Three more steps and he'd be within jumping range.

As if sensing her anticipation, he paused. The white fabric of his garment trailed behind him like a tattered flag. "It depends."

"Answer straight for once." Aqua bit the words as they passed by her lips until they sounded as gnawed as an old bone.

Surprise emanated from him. "I have. Before."

"Yeah, never again." She needed to stop talking to him. When his tone turned amused –not sadistically so but in a more normal sense—she knew she was in danger of falling prey to her silly delusions.

That he was just a misguided boy with a dark past that had never heard of the Light.

"Would you like me to?" Vanitas inquired, dismissing his weapon in a wavering flash of shadow. He raised his hands, palms up, and she could almost glimpse his sharp-toothed smile.

Aqua hesitated. They had clashed often enough, but still she was unable to strike him when he didn't attack her first. Why was she so _weak_? Disgust battled her soft side, wrestled it, and was unable to entirely subdue it. Hence her silence.

He laughed, the sound gentler than his usual wild cackling. "Ah, Aqua. I'll talk straight if you don't try to kill me."

_What about brutally maiming you?_ "…Okay." Hating herself, the female Keybearer let _Destiny's Place_ fade into oblivion. She crossed the short distance between them until only a foot separated the pair of rivals. Tensing, in case it was all a ploy, the girl demanded, "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Vanitas repeated. His helmet flashed and burned, pulling away from his face to reveal his pale, spiky-haired features ridged with black quills. "I want you to stop being so _foolish_."

"You're trying to hurt my friends!" Aqua countered, her eyes narrowing, becoming intense sapphire slits. The wind howled as if in agreement, sending warm, arid air into their faces. Dust caught the edges of her eyelashes and clung there, stinging. She rubbed the debris away and hoped he didn't think she had started to tear up.

"…Hmph." Vanitas folded his arms across his muscled chest, and like usual, his yellow gaze completely captured her own, until everything she saw seemed to be tinted a shade of avid gold.

_The effort it takes to speak straight must kill him,_ Aqua thought wryly. She shifted back a few steps, and he advanced towards her, obviously intent on keeping the same distance between them. When she sighed in exasperation and stopped, she realized with a bolt of horror that her back was to the same cliff that she had been near minutes ago. The rock still bore claw marks from the Unversed.

Aqua was trapped, like a rabbit with a coyote just beyond its only escape route.

"It'd be so much _easier_ if you saw things my way," began the dark-haired warrior. She lifted a hand and silenced him.

"No. I will never turn to the Darkness!" She swore fiercely.

Vanitas cocked his head to the side. "Why not?"

"It's…wrong."

"Why?"

"The Darkness does nothing but hurt people."

"It's more of the people _using_ the Darkness, not the Darkness itself. The Light is only visible because the shadows give it something to brighten."

"And vice versa," Aqua growled. She edged a bit to the side and was relieved when Vanitas didn't shift his current position. He seemed distracted by something, his predator's teeth bared in a thoughtful sneer.

"Vice versa, you say? The Light isn't evil because the people that use it are good?"

"I…" Darn it all, why was he intent on confusing her? She hadn't meant that. "It's just not as destructive," she muttered lamely.

"Really. Seems plenty destructive to me." Vanitas gestured around them. "You just killed some of my Unversed, after all."

"Look, if you're trying to get me to help your plan, it's not going to work. Not now, not ever." Aqua declared, twisting past the dark male and succeeding in removing herself from the stone corner.

"Stubborn," he said simply. His eyes bore into hers, and she endeavored not to look away, even when she saw opaque shapes dancing in his black pupils.

"Vanitas. I have somewhere I need to be. So either get out of the way…"

"It's going to be the last you see of Terra and the Ventus you know." And just like that, he was back to his normal, enigmatic, tongue-twisting self.

"We'll see about that." Fear twisted her heart into a complex array of knots. His words were a warning, she knew, and she had wasted enough time already. She prayed this wasn't all just a distraction. Aqua bolted past Vanitas, thinking she was out of his reach, but he sprang, quick as lightning, and grabbed her arm.

She was about to set him on fire when he spoke.

"Aqua."

The way he spoke her name made her pause, and she daren't turn to face him, lest her nerve break. Vanitas had said her name so softly, so gently, that she doubted it wasn't even the mysterious boy's voice at all.

"Aqua. Look at me."

The blue-haired maiden swallowed and slowly, reluctantly, did so. Vanitas was staring at her with those strange, alien yellow eyes, and the hard, cynical lines of his face were slack with some emotion she didn't recognize. It looked like a combination of many.

"What?" She asked, her one word question almost swallowed by another violent breeze.

"_Please_ don't go to the Graveyard. I'd rather not have you there."

"Why not?" Aqua queried.

He looked away.

"My friends are in danger. I know. So I _will _be there." She spoke this statement calmly and resolutely, in a way that brooked no argument.

"_Friends_," Vanitas scoffed. "Who needs them?"

"I do," Aqua snapped. "And they need me." She tried to extract herself from his grip, but the male didn't let go. Instead, he laughed bitterly.

"_I _could be whatever you need."

Her heart rammed itself against her ribcage, hammering away viciously, as if intent to launch itself from her chest and into his gloved hands. Her subconscious understood what he had said before her mind even caught up.

"Y-You don't mean…" Aqua stammered, but she knew the truth regardless. His tawny eyes depicted everything he was saying and thinking, as clearly as a window into his tainted soul, and she wondered if that was why he wore a helmet. To hide such expressive eyes.

Vanitas laid his palm on her face, carefully, as if she was fragile. Once more, she recalled the feeling of his hand on her shoulder. How very, very kind his movements could be if he wanted.

How only she saw this part of him, and everyone else only saw a monster.

"_How_?" Aqua choked out at length.

His smile became crooked, sardonic. "I think you're the only person that has ever listened." He pulled her closer, and she stepped nearer almost willingly, until she was directly in front of him. She could feel the heated, organic material of his suit pressing against her.

"But that can't be enough t-to constitute—" Had she just _stuttered_?

"It is." And with that chaste remark, Vanitas lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers and pressed his mouth to hers.

The first thing she noticed was how _cold_ his skin was, a stark contrast to the blaze that smothered deep within his clothes. She felt him running his fingers through her cerulean hair, a pleasant, though foreign, sensation. Before she knew it, her arms had snaked around his neck and she was kissing him back, and _why_ was she kissing him at all? Her arch-nemesis, her rival, the vile Unversed leader.

…That had just basically admitted that he loved her. And if something could love, was it truly a monster?

Her heart faltered in her chest and she could feel his own beat thanks to their proximity, and it was just as fast as hers. It was oddly comforting, to know that he was excited and nervous and every emotion in-between. He tasted like ice and fire and a peculiar searing spice that reminded her of wintry nights and summer mornings.

But through her unexpected pleasure, as she let him lead their kiss and mold her lips, Aqua sensed something. There was a shadow on the edges of her vision, behind Vanitas, back near the cliff. She startled him as she surged towards him, knocking them both to the ground with an exclamation of, "Get down!"

The rock and stone at their feet exploded into a mess of dirt and dust that was whipped away by a weak and abrupt gale. The smothering embers left behind by the bolt of lightning released a wafting tendril of gray smoke into the cloudy sky.

And standing there, glaring at them, was Terra.

Embarrassment and shame shot through her, and Aqua couldn't help but think that Vanitas was conning her, playing on her sentimental soft side.

Again.

As the brawny, brown-haired warrior raced towards them, she stood and let the dark male scramble to his feet unaided. He ducked his head, and she was surprised to see his helmet reforming around his face. Their eyes met for a split-second before the black visor covered him again.

"Aqua!" Terra was glaring at her with a mixture of shock and revulsion, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "What were you doing?"

"Something she _wanted_ to do, contrary to what you might think," Vanitas said, smooth as velvet.

Aqua's cheeks flamed as the black apprentice trailed one hand down the side of her face, and now that her friend was here, she couldn't imagine doing what she had just did with him.

"Vanitas!" Terra roared, blue eyes glinting with their own shadows. He twirled a Keyblade she didn't recognize and immediately proceeded to attack the masked youth.

Vanitas blocked it easily, for the blow was clumsy with rage, and he cackled as they began to duel. A veritable maelstrom of power was whipping and howling around them as the pair lashed out against one another. Sparks flew, metal clanged against metal, and various wounds were dealt that spattered blood across the Keyblade Graveyard's ancient earth.

"No, wait! Stop!" Aqua pleaded, her quick eyes flashing from Terra to Vanitas, unsure how to intervene without hurting one of them.

They ignored her, naturally, clashing and swiping and causing a general clamor. The female Keybearer wondered if Ventus was nearby, and if so, how would he react once Terra told him she had just kissed the _Unversed's leader?_

Shaking her head, Aqua called again for the teens to stop trying to murder each other.

Terra reacted. He froze, flicking his eyes to her, and at that moment Vanitas slammed his chest and then his head, opening a nasty gash. The Keyblade warrior collapsed for a second, then he struggled to stand, only to find Vanitas's Keyblade tip at his throat.

"Vanitas, stop!" Aqua cried, horror filling her. She once again _sensed_ the malice flowing from him in crippling waves. There was a sick part of the dark male that took pleasure in hurting and killing, and it was an easily tangible force in the air. Stifling.

_If there _is_ good in him, the Darkness eclipses it._

Something deep inside of her balked from his brutality, and the girl knew what she had to do.

Vanitas laughed and as Terra clenched his teeth, obviously about to try something, Aqua drew her arm back.

"I said _stop_!" She launched a sphere of pure Light at Vanitas, causing him to fly forward. She imagined his yellow eyes widening in stunned surprise, his mouth slightly open as he took the shot. Her aim had been perfect, colliding with the back of his head.

He landed in a crumpled heap, and Terra began getting to his feet, hefting his Keyblade. The brown-haired disciple of Eraqus stared steadily at her, expecting an answer for everything that had just occurred.

Aqua licked her lips, sighing. "I don't know," she replied honestly.

"Really." Terra raised his eyebrows, kicking Vanitas's limp form aside and lifting his weapon to strike.

Before she could intervene, the dark male leaped to his feet and scurried backwards, hands clenched.

His invisible gaze lingered on Aqua for a few heartbeats, and not caring that Terra saw, she mouthed a silent apology.

"If you're not with me…you're against me." She heard something that sounded almost like regret in his voice, but mostly there was only anger and betrayal.

Vanitas turned and left then, and Aqua grabbed her friend's shoulder to stop him from following.

Terra's eyes held a dozen questions. He huffed. "You won't tell me what happened, will you?"

A weary smile turned up a corner of her lips. "I will. I thought, maybe, we could have been wrong about him all along."

Silence, except for their mingling breaths.

"Well…were we?" He wouldn't meet her gaze, and ceasing her efforts, Aqua started to walk towards the Graveyard.

More than anything, she was grateful that he wasn't pestering her. Just trusted her.

"No, Terra. I don't think we were."

* * *

_**Another request from WasabiWhipCream! Sorry for the angst, but I don't think these two could ever have a happy ending without some serious plot bending. I hope you liked it, and sorry for the wait!**_

_**Reviews are…love. Seriously. And this site is being a jerk and removing my normal page breakers from my stories, so my apologies on that! **_


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